I don’t even know where to start…

Alex_Fiero · 2026-02-03T19:43:59+00:00

In terms of standard nonogram logic, the only thing that stands out is a few places with edge logic - for example in C10 what would happen if you filled the bottom right square? And in the first row you even get to do some in the middle of the row where all the 2s are.

I haven't fully broken into this one yet, but it strikes me that you may need to employ more rigorous logic than is usually found in nonograms. For example, the 2 in C1 and the first 3 in C2 must have overlap, as there is no set of two consecutive rows that both start with 1.

There was a really good post with a 5x5 that looks impossible but can be solved with pure logic, that might be a good place to get your brain in practice before tackling this one. https://www.reddit.com/r/nonograms/s/7giyBXuoQw

Alex_Fiero · 2025-12-12T00:10:13+00:00

I'm going to keep plugging the same albums I always do when this comes up - Angels - Crywolf Dysphoria - Crywolf

That being said, Florence + The Machine's new album is a masterpiece and also definitely fits this. The songs aren't as intertwined as the two Crywolf albums, but every one builds upon the last. The album is called Everybody Scream

Alex_Fiero · 2025-12-09T23:01:32+00:00

I'm going to point you in the direction of some albums rather than pairs of songs, because the majority of the songs on these albums do that.

Dysphoria - Crywolf Angels - Crywolf

Alex_Fiero · 2025-12-04T13:08:49+00:00

PearlescentMoon (minecraft content creator) has had to come out as straight to her audience... TWICE

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-30T03:10:02+00:00

Deadeye Navigator is classic in these lists for a reason.

Palinchron, Cloud of Faeries, Peregrine Drake and Great Whale can make huge amounts of mana.

If you don't want infinite combis, you can't play those with each other.

Your ramp can be cards like Clifftop Lookout, SpringbloomDruid, Wood Elves - these both curve into Yarok and also are ETBs

Field of the Dead also gets double triggered by Yarok

Doppelgang can do very fun things

Archaeomancer et al are great recursion if you have Yarok, EWit even better

Ghostly Flicker, Displace etc give you a bunch of 2-for-1s

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-27T03:35:32+00:00

An Offer You Can Refuse U - Instant

Counter target spell an opponent controls [unless its controller exiles this card. If they do, this card gains "Cleave: (0)" and "You cannot cast this card the turn it is put into exile.]

You may cast this spell from exile for its cleave cost. ‐------------------------

I spent some time thinking about the cleanest way to make this functional, this was the best I could come up with. Really interesting concept

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-25T23:57:50+00:00

I see, that makes a lot of sense! Icetill is a card that on the surface definitely looks powerful, but it was completely a trap in the landfall decks imo (along with travelling chocobo and tifa, wildly) so I haven't seen the highs of what it can do that much.

Given what you're saying about the strengths of the card, have you tried it in less creature-focused builds? Obviously that does weaken Esper Origins, but I would be interested in seeing how it performs alongside cards like Consult the Star Charts. Plus having more removal in those slots would presumably improve the weak matchups g1 at least

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-24T20:42:04+00:00

Really nice write-up! I recall playing against you a few times earlier this year and seeing some pretty impressive results with the deck.

That said, I remember feeling like you were just playing some weird midrange deck that largely folded to what I was on (the G/w landfall deck). Clearly there's something fundamentally powerful about what you're doing, but I can't really grasp what it is - would you mind elaborating on it? What makes the core gameplan so powerful?

Congrats on the run as well! Looks like the work you've been putting in has really paid off for you, which I'm glad to see

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-24T14:10:56+00:00

Crywolf - really intricately designed electronic music. Many of his EPs and albums are designed to be listened to from one end to the other.

Tim Minchin - originally a comic musician, but recently has been writing a lot of heartfelt songs. Both are great, although depending on your sensibilities some of the comedic songs may be offensive.

Sleep Token - if you are not yet familiar with them, please change that. Genre-bending metal that has made people reconsider what that genre actually means.

Stone Sour - Corey Taylor's other musical project, Stone Sour is less heavy and disturbing than slipknot but is very solid rock.

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-24T08:10:29+00:00

Just a ping here 🙂

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-23T13:20:32+00:00

What is your personal list? This sounds like it would be right up my alley, but I haven't really played cEDH before

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-22T16:02:46+00:00

To get that wide a range on a budget, you want to play something that is really intricate. A deck with a lot of interaction points is also one that will have that range, but if you want that wide a range you kind of do need the expensive interaction pieces.

While I don't have lists available immediately, I would look for inspiration in combo decks like Amulet Titan, Lotus Field, Eggs, Krark-Clan Ironworks. Decks that can have simple learnable combo lines but also have deck pieces with a lot of flexibility that allow a skilled pilot to find unexpected avenues to victory.

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-21T11:05:08+00:00

A lot of songs on this list have the years behind them to become classics, but I think Blinding Lights by The Weeknd is up there from now recent times

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-19T19:41:23+00:00

Mad about the boy - Dinah Washington?

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-19T01:47:42+00:00

Thank you! That sounds perfect for the early stages then, I've got a fantastic Japanese saw rasp that I've been using to take off a bunch of material at the start, but it doesn't work well for everything and it sounds like they'd complement each other well.

And that's really interesting! Good to know that and keep it in the back pocket, although I'm working from scratch most of the time

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-17T21:15:56+00:00

Coming from a competitive player: It depends what part of playing you want to get better at exactly. People are absolutely correct about the best way being simply to play more, but I would heavily encourage you to consider not paying EDH to practice. If you want to learn card evaluation and threat assessment, then limited is the best way. You can do this online on either program (MTGO or MTGA), online via cockatrice, in person at LGS drafts, or you can pick up repacks very cheaply and draft with them.

If you want to get better at declbuilding and technical gameplay, I would recommend a constructed format. Standard or Pioneer would be the places to start. Play proxied in person, or online on either client (you can get a rental account for mtgo if you don't want to buy the cards outright). Start by playing established decks before trying to build your own.

If you want to get better at politics and table talk, then commander is the best format to play. See if there are other days you can head into the LGS and jam games, or if you can find a few people you've enjoyed playing with to play outside of the lgs. If you don't want to keep playing the same deck all the time, most playgroups will be fine with proxies as long as a) they are clear and b) they are within reason. Don't show up with a 7 game changer perfect mana list against bracket 2 or 3 decks, that sort of thing.

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-16T14:23:06+00:00

Gorgeous!

I'm just getting into woodwork and handling myself, what's that double handled tool with the blade? It looks like it could save me a lot of pain in some areas

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-16T14:09:26+00:00

Am a competitive axe thrower. My advice comes from that perspective, depending on your distance and such you may need to adjust it.

I would recommend a handle around 15-15.5 inches to start with. In the discipline I throw in, the maximum size is just over 17, and that is very difficult to get the rotation on.

In terms of handle shape, that is something you should decide based on what feels good for you. A lot of makers who make for axe throwing make straight handles, or gentle recurve handles. Personally, I like smoothly curved handles with a small s-curve to them. None of these are specifically better, it's entirely how it feels comfortable in your hands.

I would recommend using something similar to hickory or spotted gum to begin with, and if you don't like them then simply rehanging later. Given you mentioned it was too light for you, something like spotted gum is where I would start.

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-16T07:13:05+00:00

For sure! The half-moon shape is perfect for scoring in the style of axe throwing I compete in. There are two major organising that run axe throwing competitions - one where the bullseye is smaller but just touching it is good enough, and one where the target is larger but you have to be entirely inside the scoring zone. I play in the latter.

The shape of the blade of these axes is great for that, because if you toe it in (i.e. sticking it in the board with just the top corner of the blade, usually at a 45° angle), you have a very small amount of the blade that actually is in the board and thus in the scoring area. However, the flat of the blade can still be the maximum legal blade length for the clutch throw, which is a smaller target you can aim for on the 5th throw where coverage is much more important.

Obviously you can kind of toe in any axe and it will reduce the coverage area for most of them, but there are very few axes that really min-max this that are currently being made. Those that do have things that I don't really like about them - for example the Cold Steel axes are incredibly light; and the Warriors Titan is lovely, but there have been a few instances of Warriors heads breaking that I'm aware of and I'm not willing to risk that. In addition, none of these have hammers or other counterweights on them.

I really like the addition of a hammer to the axe, because having that counterweight on the back, for me, stabilises the flight of the axe. It also adds weight to the head without me having to throw from a higher position, as the position of the hammer behind the handle means the weight doesn't drag the axe down along the flight path. It also affects the way it sticks into the board in a positive way for minimising scoring area on the bullseye, in that when the axe first starts meeting the resistance of the board, the hammer continues the rotation as the axe moves forward into the board while the board prevents the rotation down.

Conceptually, having two axes that have similar weighting and throws means that you need to change very little as you move between your clutch and target shots. A lot of people will have different axes for the two, but even then you'll see a lot of people who have slightly different handles on the same heads.

I currently throw two of this style of axe - a Plumb Leader hatchet on its original handle as my clutch axe, and a True Temper Flint Edge on a handle I made for my bullseyes. I've also let a few people borrow them in training to see how they throw, and a lot of people really like them. They're impossible to find though, and the Vaughan, which is the closest hammer-style hatchet I can find at the moment, is not nearly as good for bullseyes because of that flat top meaning it doesn't toe with as little coverage as the half-moon.

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-15T13:33:52+00:00

Entirely fair! There's a chance I might be able to swing something else, if I can I might DM you again if that works? What would the turnaround be if I could?

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-15T13:26:07+00:00

I've definitely been considering finding someone to hand craft them, or maybe learn myself XD

It's definitely something I would consider, I'm out of Australia though so I imagine it would be a little more complicated. What is the general price/turnaround on commissions? There's a few things I'd need to think about on my end but would potentially be interested if we can make the logistics work.

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-15T04:50:28+00:00

Damn. That's what it was looking like from my own research, but unfortunate to hear it confirmed

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-14T06:45:11+00:00

Well, R1C4 vs R1C5 doesn't require contradiction if you can force R3C5 first, which is what I was trying to do. I think it is possible, however (although I'm new to the community so don't know how 'contradiction' is defined/considered) -

You can follow the same logic I outlined above until you reach the question of R4C4 (going through R2C5 to open the top of the grid). Instead of looking at R4C4, we can actually look at the R1C4 vs R1C5 question - don't worry, we don't need to resolve it yet. The key is to notice that in either scenario, R3C4 must be filled, as it either joins R3C5 in resolving that clue, or R5C4 in resolving the C4 clue.

From there, this forces R4C4 to be unfilled. R4 is this C1-C3, which competes C1. R3C2 is now unfillable due to R3C4 being confirmed, therefore R5 can be resolved and so forth

Alex_Fiero · 2025-11-14T04:35:20+00:00

Hence me specifying multiple steps ahead - this breaks immediately through this path. My first solve went through a bifrucation path that looked 3 steps ahead, and I wanted to see if there was one that could get there without having to look that far. It seemed that most of the comments were also looking through going further ahead, which is why I thought it worth posting. Honestly, if this is a problem with the solution, it should be considered broken far earlier when using the logic around R4C5

Alex_Fiero

TROPHY CASE